How To Do Content Research (With 4 Types Of Content Research)

Can you write articles without research?

Simply no. 

Unless you’re a subject matter expert (SME) writing about your field, you need research for the article. But becoming an SME in itself takes research, isn’t it?

Secondly, we already know that to rank articles on search engines, you need content that helps your audience. 

That’s how SEO works. You write useful and helpful content. It gets ranked. 

And you can’t possibly write helpful content without pouring in at least some research. When writing for your audience, you must first understand where they’re at.

Three questions arise:

• What does your audience already know?
• How will the content help them?
• What exactly will their takeaway be?

To answer these questions, you need to conduct audience research. If you know where your audience is, your content can only take them forward. 

So, how to do content research? You’ll get the answer in this article. Let’s dive in!

Significance of Content Research for E-E-A-T and YMYL

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Using this factor helps Google assess the quality of search results based on what real people are looking for. It’s a part of Google’s Search Qualtiy Rater Guidelines. 

E-E-A-T is vital for SEO, though it’s not a direct Google ranking factor. 

Your Money Your Life, or YMYL, refers to information that may have an effect on someone’s lifestyle, finances, safety, or general well-being.

YMYL topics can be financial content, lifestyle or health content, posts on natural calamities or war or world economics, etc.

Misinformation on these topics can affect people’s lives negatively and irreversibly. 

That’s why proper research and E-E-A-T are crucial for YMYL topics.

Now that you know why research is the foundation of a good content piece, let’s see how to ace content research.

How to do Content Research Using Different Methods?

Content research takes many forms, from the topic of your articles to the audience you’re writing for. 

1. Topic research

Topic research means finding the topics you use for your articles. It goes from a comprehensive examination of potential ideas for blogs, keywords, and trends to finding what subjects are relevant for your audience. 

The goal is to uncover compelling and engaging topics that not only align with the brand’s objectives but also address the informational needs and preferences of the intended audience. Through meticulous topic research, content writers can lay a solid foundation for producing content that captivates, informs, and drives meaningful engagement.

To start with topic research, simply Google your broad topic for content creation. The ranking articles, People Also Ask, related searches, and Google Autocomplete give you enough leads to create a content plan. 

With topic research, you can find: 

• Content gaps
• Trendy topics
• Related and relevant topics to your audience

How to Conduct Topic Research for Free

From finding topics for blogs to laying out a complete content calendar with keywords—topic research can be done for free.

First, start with a simple Google search for your seed keyword (the niche topic you’ve selected.)

For example: Your niche is content writing. A simple Google search will show you topics people often search for. 

You can pick the top finds like tools for SEO, SEO courses, jobs, tips, etc. 

Go deeper with the People Also Ask section and related searches. 

I love Google for this! It gives you exactly what you need to get started.

Now that you’ve tasted the waters, it’s time for a deep plunge. 

Put these keywords in AnswerThePublic. 

Select the country you want to target and hit “Search.”

AnswerThePublic returns related terms people often search for. It also divides the keywords into questions, prepositions, and comparisons so you know what works best for you. 

You also get more answers in alphabetic order at the bottom. More to explore and find keywords for your content plan. 

Now, it’s time to find SEO keywords that you can target. 

I’ll show you how to use AI for keyword research. Sounds cool, right?

Here’s ChatGPT for your rescue. 

Remember that AI is only as good as the human prompting it. To make ChatGPT give you the most efficient answer in the first prompt, you have to train it accordingly. 

It’s time to add the main prompt. Give ChatGPT your seed keyword and ask it to generate 20 longtail keywords. 

NOTE: These keywords may not be valid according to the keyword parameters for search intent and ranking on search engines. But they get the ball rolling.

Go to the Google Keyword Planner and insert these keywords. 

Set filters to find low, medium, or high competition keywords with your desired search volume.

And voila! You now have a list of hundreds of potential keywords. 

The final task is to shortlist keywords that have ranking potential and meet your criteria for keywords. You might only want keywords within a specific difficulty and volume. 

For that, use the Ubersuggest Chrome extension. It shows you: 

• Monthly search volume of keywords
• Domain authority of ranking websites
• Established visits to the webpage
• Social shares
• Number of backlinks

This information is enough to help you shortlist keywords for your content plan.

| Suggested article: How to write your first blog?

2. Industry and Market Research

Never sail in unchartered waters. Researching your industry and market is critical to test what you’re getting into. 

This research profoundly reveals an industry’s dynamics, trends, rivals, and possibilities. So you can develop an informed content strategy from the get-go. 

How to Do Industry and Market Research?

1. Define Your Industry Parameters:

This is where you’d define the scope of your industry. It can also help you better understand your niche and its association with the industry. The parameters include:

• Key players
• Market segments
• Relevant sub-sectors

2. Study market trends:

Market trends keep changing. You don’t want to hop on a trend just to see it losing popularity. Use social media insights to see industry-related conversations and Google Trends to analyze what’s working in the market. 

Engage with your audience on platforms like Twitter (Now X), LinkedIn, and industry-specific forums to gain real-time insights into market sentiments.

Access online databases and resources such as Statista, IBISWorld, or industry-specific databases to gather statistical data, market size, and consumer behavior trends.

Understanding market trends helps you pick a path for content creation and stick to it or pivot when necessary. 

3. Set your KPIs:

Knowing what you aim to achieve makes achieving it easier. The right KPIs (Key performance indicators) propel your content in the right direction. 

What is it that you want to track?

Depending on your reason for content creation, the KPIs will vary. Usually, the content KPIs include:

• Monthly Traffic
• Unique visitors
• Click through rate
• Bounce rate
• Conversion rate

4. Explore Emerging Technologies and Innovations:

Stay abreast of technological advancements and innovations within the industry. This knowledge can help identify emerging topics and position your content as forward-thinking and relevant.

Industry research is incomplete without competitor and audience research. But these two types of research are vast in themselves. So, I’ve covered them in the following sections. 

3. Competitor Research

A good strategy is doing your own research. A smart strategy is doing competitor research. 

Researching what your competitors do helps because: 

• They might be doing something you don’t.
• They might’ve missed out on something you can cash on.

Again, the simplest way to do competitor research to find content gaps is by analyzing the SERP. 

Read the ranking articles and note: 

• The article type
• Content Format
• Headers
• FAQs
• Research done or arguments presented
• The angle they took while writing

You may find a missing link or a way to enrich your content. Either way, it’s a win-win.

In the same way, competitor research helps understand the search intent and if you’ve got it right for the keyword.

Another way to find content gaps in competitor content is by tapping into customer feedback and reviews. 

• Was there something the audience wanted to read? 
• Did they feel something was missing?
• How did they react to the ranking articles?

The answer to these questions opens new opportunities for you to create helpful content better than your competitors. 

4. Audience Research

Content creation is a bumpy ride without a well-researched audience. Knowing your audience through and through keeps your ship sailing under any storm. 

Because let’s be honest: Everything can change. Google may roll out new updates, the search engine algorithm might change overnight, and marketing trends may evolve. But what remains the same is a loyal audience. 

So, how do you earn your audience’s loyalty? By creating content that caters to their needs. That happens when you research them. 

How to Research the Target Audience? 

First things first, the goal of audience research should be to know them like your best friend. You should know what caused a certain reaction, what makes them act a certain way, and what they would be like in a certain situation. 

To become the BFF of your audience: 

1. Create audience persona: Audience personas help you visualize your audience. It becomes easier to create a content plan for someone you can associate with a name, hobbies, pain points, joys, etc. 

For example: Here’s an audience persona I built for my blog. 

It takes time to think of every detail, but that saves hours of feeling lost about your audience. 

2. Run surveys for existing audience: Do you already have an audience? Cash on them. The audience doesn’t have to be paid customers. You can easily rely on social media followers you’ve engaged regularly with. 

Leverage polls through social media channels or communities. See how Ankur Warikoo has used a poll for research. 

Another way to survey the existing audience is through newsletters. Look at how Convertkit did it. 

3. Hang out on social media platforms they prefer: You’d know the platforms your audience hangs out at with the help of the audience persona. See what kind of conversations they join. Many people voice their thoughts in the comments of other creators. Check out creators from your niche and surf through their comments. You’ll find a goldmine of questions your audience asks. That’s it! Take the questions and create content to answer them. 

Change the platform and switch to online forums like Reddit and Quora. It’s hard to find a subreddit or a Quora question not focused on your niche. 

Simply start with a search and read the conversations. Check out the examples below:

Finally, Can you Give Something Extra?

You need to do a little extra to make your article stand out. What can that be for you? 

There are many sources to research besides the common ones to make your content unique. From original data from case studies to utilizing newsletter content, you should keep finding new ways. 

• Create your own case studies.
• Follow top newsletters in your niche and cite the author.
• Add SME opinions to support your arguments. 
• Create your own visuals, like infographics, mindmaps, charts, etc., that make the content more impactful. 

You can approach brands for collaboration once you’ve made a name for yourself. This way, you get fresh content and research without going too far searching for it. 

Frequently Asked Questions